1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to shelf brackets, racks, hangers, and other cantilevered members mounted to an upright support and the like used in homes for books, ornamental objects, and other things and used in stores for displaying various types of articles, and more particularly, to a eccentric disc lock bracket.
2. Description of the Related Art including Information Disclosed under 37 CFR Sections 1.97-1.99
A common form of shelving structure used to support commercial merchandising displays as well as home decor arrangements utilize cantilevered bracket members mounted on vertical support members. The vertical members may be in the form of slotted standards mounted on a wall or free-standing slotted columns affixed to the floor and ceiling. Such support members are typically provided with a plurality of vertically spaced slots dimensioned to receive seating hooks of a bracket in interlocking engagement with said support members in a cantilevered fashion.
Although some bracket/wall standard systems are designed to be permanent installations, the changing merchandising display needs of commercial users as well as the decor arrangements of home users make it desirable that the brackets be able to be changed and rearranged between multiple positions in the support members with relative ease and economy and without damaging the finish thereof. Accordingly, ease of installation, flexibility of bracket settings, portability, secure engagement of the bracket to support member, ease in disengagement, as well as the cost and ornamental or sightliness appearance of the bracket are important factors in modern integrated merchandising, storage, and home decor shelving units.
Due to a variety of factors there is a tendency for the interlocking bracket seating hooks and vertical support members to loosen and move relative to one another. For example heavy loading of a shelving unit may tend to uncouple the bracket from the upright, especially wherein a particular bracket is used to form a pedestal at the base of an upright to make a free-standing shelving unit since the forces acting on the bracket leg member are opposite to the usual loading forces. Further, a seating hook may be installed to an upright support incompletely in a partially seated position resulting in a bracket engagement failing to bear its normal stress load. Even proper installation of certain bracket seating hooks may have a shearing effect on the wall standard damaging its structural integrity. Also, bracket members are capable of being accidentally dislodged. It is desirable for these and other reasons to have the bracket member locked to the upright support member to prevent such inadvertent separation.
The prior art discloses a variety of approaches to securely mount a bracket member to an upright support member. For example, the U.S. Pat. No. 3,353,684 to Chesley utilizes a certain bracket hook member which defines an angular slot with an inclined portion which diverges downwardly and away from the end of the bracket member. This hook member when inserted into the slotted opening of an upright support can receive different thicknesses of metal for engagement on different types of upright supports as the engagement takes place at a point on the inclined portion of the hook member which engages the inner wall of the upright support member. This particular hook configuration (which is illustrated at FIG. 2) is combined with a vertically adjustable locking arm member designed to extend into and fill a slot of the upright support. This particular arrangement is disadvantageous for two reasons. First, the inner angled edge of the hook member is designed to be typically installed by hammer force-fitting such that the tapered edge is in "pinched" engagement with the inner surface of the upright support member. Hammer blows can scar the finish or color coating of either the bracket or support member and force-fitting causes the interior angled edge of the hook member to shear or damage the interior surface of the wall standard thereby endangering its structural integrity. Second, usage of a locking arm extending into a slot of the upright support requires filling of the remaining space of a seating hook receiving slot or yet another slot and may further detract from the ornamental attractiveness of the bracket shelving structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,324,379 to Ovitz III discloses a horizontally slidable lock ear which projects into a slot of the upright support member adjacent to the top edge of the slot to prevent vertical movement which could release a bracket hook from the slot.
Other United States Patents teach a support slot based lock in conjunction with spring or screw mechanisms. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,697,034 to Shell teaches a spring biased bar pivoted at one end of the bracket member which springs outward into one of the receiving slots of the upright support member upon completion of the assembly of the two members. Thus, a locking of the bracket to the support occurs with a lug type filling of the support member receiving slot above the mounted seating hook member. This type of locking is also illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,133,433 to Wolf which discloses a special locking plunger to fill the support member receiving slot above a seating hook member with the aid of a screw mechanism. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,387,872 to Hogue a spring is used to urge a plunger to fill the support member receiving slot above a seating tab of the hook member. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,601,432 to Fenwick a pivotally mounted locking arm provides for a tab portion to be inserted into the space remaining in a support slot after the hook is inserted therein.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,572,626 to Bertschi there is disclosed an adjustable bracket member capable of being engaged and locked in two or more selected orientations to the vertical support member by specifically shaped retaining lug formations of close tolerances and a shaped locking member having a cam surface for each of the positions of the bracket to urge the lug formations into firm engagement with the vertical support member. The locking member 30 is preferably a bifurcated element composed of a shaft 32 and plate portions 34 carried on either end of the shaft. The bracket member has a notch or hole disposed between the two retaining lugs of the bracket which receives the shaft portion of the lock element and positions the plate portions on either side of the bracket body. The lock member 30 is installed on the bracket by merely sliding it in through an open end of the notch 36 in the bracket. Each of the two matching plate portions 34 of the lock element 30 has a cam surface for each of two positions of the bracket. Each of the plate portions 34 of the lock members has a projection 38 which can be grasped by the user for purposes of moving the locking member such that the cam surfaces wedgingly engage the vertical member when the bracket is in one of its selected orientations.